Short, Simple and Personal reflections on the daily Holy Mass Gospel. I provide talks.
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Friday, December 5, 2014
Wednesday, December 3, 2014
Reflection for December 5, Friday of the First Week of Advent; Matthew 9:27-31
Gospel: Matthew 9:27-31
As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed
him, crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us! When he entered the house, the
blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do
this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let
it be done for you according to your faith. And their eyes were opened. Jesus
warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this. But they went out and
spread word of him through all that land.
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Reflection:
What are
we willing to do to have faith? Are we willing to humble ourselves and kneel
before God and ask Him to give us the gift of faith? Faith is a gift that Jesus
freely gives to the humble. Even if you will not ask for it Jesus will give it
to you for as long as you humble yourself in front of Him.
In the
gospel for this Friday we have two humble blind men who cried to Jesus for compassion.
Why did they cry when they could have
shouted at Jesus to get His attention? They cried because they saw hope and
mercy in Jesus. For the two blind men Jesus was their only hope to have the
gift of sight.
Let us
also ask Jesus to give us the gift of Hope and faith for nothing is impossible
for those who humble themselves before God. Even the impossible is now very much
possible for as long as we have faith.
Whatever
we’re going through right now, believe that Jesus will heal us. And believe that
He will answer our pleas for nothing is impossible for Jesus. This is best
exemplified by the two incredible blind
men of deep faith in our gospel.
How’s
your faith in Jesus? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Reflection for December 4, Thursday of the First Week of Advent; Matthew 7:21, 24-27
Gospel: Matthew
7:21, 24-27
(Jesus said to his
disciples) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom of
heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
“Everyone who
listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who
built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and
buffeted the house. But it did not
collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these
words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house
on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the
house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”
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Reflection:
What will happen to
us if we always pray yet we don’t live our faith? For example we always pray
the Holy Rosary everyday or we go to Holy Mass every Sunday yet we don’t allow the
Holy Spirit to change us? We would easily succumb to worldly temptations and we
render useless our acts of worship for God.
The Philippines is a
catholic country, in fact more than eighty percent (80%) of us are Catholics
and the majority of our leaders are Catholics. yet corruption is deeply rooted
in our bureaucracy. Why is this so? This is for the reason that we are only
good at worshipping God but we don’t allow our worship for God to transform us.
What does Jesus want
from all of us? He wants us to worship Him and allow this same worship for Him
to transform us. So that we could become His true and faithful followers, it’s
very easy to pray so that others would see us. However, the real qualification
for us to be called a follower of Jesus is when we allow our worship for Him to
transform us.
What will happen to
us if we let our prayers to transform us according to the will of the Father in
heaven? We would be like a wise man who
built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and
buffeted the house. But it did not
collapse; it had been set solidly on rock (Luke 7:24-25).
Do we allow our
worship for God to transform us according to His will? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
My Reflections will resume soon please comeback. God bless you!
My Reflections will resume soon please comeback. God bless you! - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Reflection for Monday December 1, Monday of the First Week of Advent; Matthew 8:5-11
Gospel: Matthew
8:5-11
When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion
approached him and appealed to him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home
paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.” He said to him, “I will come and cure him.”
The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my
roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man
subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and
he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’
and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following
him, “Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I say to you, many will come from the east
and the west, and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in
the Kingdom of heaven.”
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Reflection:
What brought
the centurion to Jesus? It was his great faith, when the centurion went to
Jesus for help for his servant he had nothing except his great faith. He firmly
believed in Jesus power to heal and he used his mighty faith to convince Jesus
to cure his servant.
Who is
this centurion? He is a roman officer that has people under his command, he
also is not a follower yet he has great faith in Jesus. Don’t we want this kind
of faith also? Of course we all want our faith to be like the centurions. Therefore
we must prayerfully ask Jesus to give us the same faith. But do we ask Jesus to
give us the gift of faith? Is the gift of faith always part of our prayer request
for Jesus?
If Jesus
could give that great faith to a non-follower like the centurion why can’t He
give us the same faith considering that we are his followers? Faith is a gift
that Jesus freely and generously gives to anyone who prays for it.
What is our
usual prayer to Jesus? Is it always to have the things of this world. Let us
not forget that the things of this world are passing and temporary. While faith
will not pass, it’s not also temporary.
Faith will
be with us until forever, it will accompany us in our journey beyond this world
going to the eternal Kingdom of the King of Kings no other than Jesus Himself.
Give us
the gift of faith O Lord Jesus, most especially the one who is reading this
reflection right now. Amen. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Friday, November 28, 2014
Reflection for Sunday November 30, First Sunday of Advent; Mark 13:33-37
Gospel: Mark
13:33-37
Jesus
said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time
will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his
servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on
the watch. Watch, therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is
coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the
morning. May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to you, I
say to all: ‘Watch!’”
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Reflection:
What does
it mean to be watchful? It means to always be prepared and alert for anything
that may happen or arrive. But why do we need to be watchful? Why not simply become
passive and complacent? We need to be watchful because this is what Jesus wants
us to become for He will manifest His presence to us at any moment of our
lives.
Why did
Jesus told the disciples to be watchful when He was still with them? Jesus was
actually preparing already His disciples for His eventual arrest and separation
from them. And as they do their mission without Him, they should always do it
with vigor, motivation and with clean intention. For He may manifest Himself
again to them anytime, therefore they must never be complacent and passive.
Today is
the first Sunday of advent, this means coming or arrival of something very
important. What is the significance of this command of Jesus for us? We too are
being encouraged by Jesus to be watchful and prepared for His coming. But how should we prepare?
First is
by submitting ourselves to the Healing Sacrament of Reconciliation or
Confession. All of us are sinful; we sin through our Thoughts, Words
and Actions. These many sins that we commit make us ill-prepared for
the coming of Jesus.
Second is
we have to forgive those who caused us pain, if this tells us that we have to reach-out to them in humility so be it. This is very
difficult to do but if we say that we know Jesus then we must be prepared to
embody Jesus. By doing so we bring Jesus to them and who knows it may
be through us that they will have an awareness of the living presence of Jesus
in their lives.
Are we
prepared to be watchful? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Reflection for Saturday November 29, Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 21:34-36
Gospel: Luke 21:34-36
Jesus said to his disciples:“Beware that
your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the
anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise like a trap. For
that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant
at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations
that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”
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Reflection:
What
would make us succumb to disorderly behavior, drunkenness and the anxieties of
daily life? We will succumb to this unhealthy behavior/lifestyle when we close
our hearts to the love of Jesus. Lest we forget, the devil is always present in
our environment and always trying to look for the right opportunity to snatch
us away from the love of God.
Some of
us may not believe that the devil is present in our environment but he is. This
is the reason why there are evil events and things around us. If there’s no active
presence of the devil in our environment there would have been no crimes and
other evil things but the devil is present.
In our
gospel for this Saturday, Jesus tells us this: :“Beware that your hearts do not
become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and
that day catch you by surprise like a trap (Luke 21:34).
The cure
for this warning of Jesus is none other than Himself! If we have a close and
personal relationship with Jesus we would be able to ward off any kind of
temptation that the evil one will cleverly throw at us.
If the
devil is always around waiting for the right timing to temp us. Jesus is always
there also always knocking at our hearts so that he could enter our lives. And
once we already have Jesus in our lives the devil will flee from our
environment. Therefore we must always open our hearts to Jesus for as long as
we exist in this world.
Are we
willing to open our heart to Jesus so that He could exorcize our many evils? - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Reflection for Friday November 28, Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 21:29-33
Gospel: Luke 21:29-33
Jesus told his disciples a parable. “Consider
the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for
yourselves and know that summer is now near; in the same way, when you see
these things happening, know that the Kingdom of God is near. Amen, I say to
you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken
place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”
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Reflection:
A man was asked, what is your greatest fear
in Life? The man replied, I fear death for I don’t know what would happen to me
when I die.
We all
have our own set of fears, we fear losing somebody we love, we fear losing our
job. And the worst fear perhaps is the same as with the man who was asked about
his greatest fear. However why fear when
Jesus is always there to soothe and take away our fears?
Many of us
have so many fears for the reason that we don’t have Jesus in our lives and we don’t
have a personal relationship with Him. This is basically the reason why we have so
many fears. But, why don’t we try to have discover more about Jesus through our
faithful presence at Holy Mass? Why don’t we try to discover more about
Jesus by reading about His life in the
bible?
Jesus in
our gospel tells us that heaven and earth will pass away but His words will not
pass away (Luke 21:33). Indeed, everything will pass away or we may pass away
first before everything pass away. Nevertheless whatever happens and whomever
passes away first we have nothing to fear for as long as we have Jesus in our
lives. - Marino J. Dasmarinas
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Reflection for Thursday November 27, Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 21:20-28
Gospel: Luke 21:20-28
Jesus said to his disciples: “When you see
Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand. Then those
in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city escape from it, and
let those in the countryside not enter the city, for these days are the time of
punishment when all the Scriptures are fulfilled. Woe to pregnant women and
nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth
and a wrathful judgment upon this people. They will fall by the edge of the
sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be
trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are
fulfilled.
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon,
and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the
waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the
world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the
Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs
begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at
hand.”
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Reflection:
There are
two sets of human sufferings that come to us. The first set of suffering is one
that we create for ourselves. For example a drunkard who has been told time and
again by his relatives to stop for it would result to his getting sick
eventually. But the drunkard would not listen to the wise counsel, eventually
he ended-up with cancer of the liver caused by his excessive addiction to liquor.
The
second set of sufferings that comes to us are those sufferings that we don’t
bring to ourselves. Example of this is sickness that comes with getting old or
any kind of suffering that we don’t create for ourselves.
In our
gospel for this Thursday Jesus speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem and its
people. They could have easily avoided this kind of sufferings if they listened
to the messengers of God (the prophets) who called on them to leave behind their
sinful ways. But they did not, they continued to sin they killed the messengers
that God sent them including His Son Jesus.
As we close
the curtains of this liturgical year and as we enter Advent. We are called by
God to listen to His voice who calls upon us to humbly repent from our
sinfulness. And the best response that we could ever do is to humbly submit
ourselves to the Healing Sacrament of Confession.
Reflection for Wednesday November 26, Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time; Luke 21:12-19
Gospel: Luke 21:12-19
(Jesus said to His disciples) Before the end happens, however, They will
seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to
prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my
name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare
your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that
all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be
handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put
some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a
hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your
lives.”
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Reflection:
Jesus talks about persecution. Jesus tells the disciples: They will seize and
persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and
they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name (Luke
21:12).
Persecution
is a reality for all of us followers of Jesus it comes to us in many forms such
as through condemnation, isolation and the worst is death. Should we be
troubled about being persecuted for our Catholic faith?
Yes and No, yes; for the reason that we are humans we have fears and once we allow this fear (Such as fear of being persecuted for our faith) to dwell in our hearts this is torture.
No because we have hope and faith in Jesus and this hope and faith in Jesus can conquer our fear of persecution. Our hope and faith in Jesus will even fuel us to face peacefully our persecutors even at the cost of our own lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
Yes and No, yes; for the reason that we are humans we have fears and once we allow this fear (Such as fear of being persecuted for our faith) to dwell in our hearts this is torture.
No because we have hope and faith in Jesus and this hope and faith in Jesus can conquer our fear of persecution. Our hope and faith in Jesus will even fuel us to face peacefully our persecutors even at the cost of our own lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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